Steady gas flows past bodies at small Knudsen numbers

Steady gas flows at small Knudsen numbers around arbitrary bodies (Asymptotic behavior for small Knudsen numbers of the solution of time-independent boundary value problems of the Boltzmann equation over a general domain) are considered when the Reynolds number of the system is of the order of unity. The generalized slip flow theory developed for the Boltzmann-Krook-Welander equation is extended for the standard Boltzmann equation. From the result, the effect of gas rarefaction on the flow (the relation between Boltzmann and hydrodynamic systems) is clarified, and several features of the force on a closed body in the gas are derived.